C. Chase Taylor

Yearly Archives: 2000

I have a few bones to pick with a certain popular movie, that is, The Wizard of Oz. Upon seeing it again recently on TV, I noticed a few things that I'd like to share. First off, this movie is fucked up. Munchkin land? Lollipop guild? Tiny ballerinas? Dancing scarecrows? Flying monkeys? Somebody was messing with some serious mind-altering substances while writing this story. My second point, which is the more important one, is about the real evildoer in the movie. No, not the Wicked Witch of the West. She's pretty evil, but there is someone even worse. Yeah, I'm talking about that manipulative, conniving Good Witch of the North. Innocent little Dorothy arrives in Oz to find that she's killed the Witch of the East. She gets a little celebration, but lo and behold, the Wicked Witch of the West arrives to find out who killed her sister. More importantly, she wants to get her ruby slippers back. But no, the Good Witch decides to put them on innocent little Dorothy. Thanks a lot! Dorothy is now wearing the one thing that the Wicked Witch wants, so for the rest of the movie she is greatly imperiled, thanks to that evil Good Witch. After Dorothy narrowly escapes death a dozen times, she arrives in the Emerald City, only to find out from the Good Witch that all along she had the power to go home by using the slippers. Thanks a lot you Good-for-nothing Witch! All in all, this discovery has left me with a very bitter feeling towards the film, and especially, that manipulative bitch, the “Good” Witch.

The zoo I went to today was pathetic. Basically there was a highway running right alongside the animal enclosures, and the actual space that these animals had to themselves was miniscule. It was a sad scene. But what was more entertaining than the poor caged animals? A group of students drawing the animals, of course!! Passersby seemed much more interested in what we were drawing than anything else. There are huge frickin' elephants, from a different continent, standing right over there, and you're looking at my drawings of them? It didn't really bother me as much as it just amused me. Here are some of the more dumb, obvious or just plain silly things I overheard…

Luke Skywalker is an annoying, whiny farm boy. He never shuts up, he's always bitching about something new, and he's always causing trouble. He hardly grows up in the later movies either. He whines to Yoda, cries when he loses his hand, jumps off a ledge when he finds out his father is an evil Sith lord, and he can't even stand up to the Emperor. OK, so maybe some of that is justified, but overall he never quite solves his own problems, and he really isn't the hero that he's made out to be. Now that I think about, none of the main characters in the original trilogy ever solve their own problems or ever make the right decisions. The only way they survive is by pure, dumb luck. Now those Jedis in Episode I really take charge. They know what they have to do and they do it (for the most part). Unfortunately, most everything else in Episode I was horribly conceived. Does George Lucas realize how many kids' dreams he crushed when he wrote that the force comes from some microscopic creatures in your blood? Damn, now I can never be a Jedi.

Instead of acting out imagined adventures with a stick-sword, as I did growing up, I have taken to learning actual sword combat. Learning from an incredibly skilled teacher, I have gained some skills in sword sparring, and I've learned many Celtic/Norse sword forms. On top of that, I've had a year of stage combat training, and a year and a half of fencing. I am fascinated by this stuff. Will I ever find myself in a situation where I'll need to draw a sword and fight a duel? Probably not. So why bother dedicating a part of myself to something like this, which is (in all practicality) useless? Good question. I'll let you know once I figure out why people rock climb, mountain-bike, ski, surf, compose music, paint, write, run, skate, read, act, argue, bungee-jump…

Why am I constantly searching for an escape, or a way to reinvent my reality? What is it about science fiction and fantasy worlds, or superheros and altrered realities? My entire life has consisted of pretending. When I was young, I would spend afternoons after school in the woods with my buddies, wielding sticks as swords, or squirt guns as lasers and we'd create the most incredible adventures for ourselves. I would watch action movies and recreate the adventures through elaborate set-ups of my toys all over the house. In a way, I was the typical boy growing up, but I never really grew out of it. I discovered books, more movies, and computer/video games where I could imagine more worlds and participate in more adventures. This part of me has still not given up. I watch a ton of movies and I continue to imagine. In fact, my ways of escaping this world have almost increased since I was younger.

A short thought from a class today: In discussing the style of German expressionism in film, a question came up. What is a more “real” representation of reality? When movies have extremely detailed sets and realistic props and characters, is that an acceptable representation? The German expressionist directors created a world where the film sets were abstracted, convoluted, and much more artistic. The sets often reflected the emotions of the characters, whether it was paranoia, claustrophobia, loneliness, excitement, or fear. Perhaps this style works better at representing what our world really is. Is our reality made up of a bunch of rigid characters and complex set pieces, or the interactions and emotions the characters are struggling with?